Traditional Chinese Medicine Healing Herbs(TCMHH)

Prescriptions for Treating Carbuncles and Abscess

Xi Huang Wan (犀黄丸)

Xihuang Wan 犀黃丸
By the TCMHH editorial team Not medically reviewed How we work Updated 6 Oct 2026
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Name

Pill of Cow-bezoare

The Prescription of 犀黄丸

Source

The book Wai Ke Quan Sheng Ji

Ingredients

Xi Huang (Calculus Bovis) 3 g,She Xiang (Moschus) 15 g,Ru Xiang (Resina Olibani) 100 g,Mo Yao (Myrrha) 100 g,Huang Mi Fan (cooked glutinous millet) 100 g.

Explanation

Niu Huang: The principal drug, being sweet and bitter in flavor and cold in nature, clearing away heat and toxic material, eliminating phlegm and dispelling masses.

She Xiang: Being pungent in taste and disperse in nature, not only promoting the circulation of blood and dispelling masses but also clearing and activating the channels and collaterals.

Ru Xiang and Mo Yao: Promoting the circulation of blood to remove blood stasis, subduing swelling and relieving pain.

Huang Mi Fan: Regulating and nourishing the stomach-Qi.

The Effect of 犀黄丸

Effect

Removing toxins, subduing swelling, resolving phlegm, dispelling masses, promoting the circulation of blood to eliminate blood stasis.

Indications

Breast carcinoma, swelling of a lymph node in the groin caused by veneral diseases, scrofula, subcutaneous nodule, multiple abscess, pulmonary abscess and small intestinal abscess, all due to accumulation of fire, phlegm and heat-toxin, marked by local large and small swollen masses as hard as stone and difficult to heal after festering, emaciation, or diffusing swollen pain, normal skin, etc.

Administrations

The first four ingredients are removed of oil and ground into fine powder. The powder and Huang Mi Fan are mixed together and pounded into pills. 9 g of the pills is taken each time, 3 times daily.

Prolonged use of this prescription is not suggested and pregnant women are not allowed to taken it, for most of the drugs in it are pungent in flavor and disperse in nature.

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Sources and further reading

We cite classical materia medica and modern reference works. This article is health education, not medical advice.

  • Shennong Bencao Jing (The Divine Farmer's Materia Medica), Han dynasty.
  • Bencao Gangmu (Compendium of Materia Medica), Li Shizhen, 1578.
  • Chinese Pharmacopoeia, current edition — identity, quality and safety monographs.
  • NCCIH and WHO reference material on traditional medicine safety.

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